Sunday, October 31, 2010

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

On Monday night after Eastern Standard, we went over to the Citizen Public House for a nightcap. The bar had just opened a few days before and we learned through Twitter that Sean Frederick was at the stick, so we stopped on by. The drink I picked was the Good John which was pretty much the Irish whiskey and lemon facsimile of the Old Tom gin and lime Emerson Cocktail. I was partially drawn to it for after spending several days in Ireland, I completely missed the chance to have Irish whiskey there. Perhaps, it was due to the fact that the two most widely available brands in Cork from the nearby Midleton Distillery are Powers and Jameson which are rather abundant here in Boston.

The Good John's nose was mainly lemon oil with a hint of Maraschino liqueur. The sip was a combination of the whiskey and lemon followed by the rich Carpano sweet vermouth and funky Maraschino on the swallow. The balance was surprisingly more on the drier side than I expected. Andrea went for a tequila drink on the menu named after bullfighter Miguel Espinosa's nickname "Armillita Chico."

While sipping our drinks, a motley crew of the New York chapter of the United States Bartending Guild (USBG) showed up as the Citizen was one of the later destinations of their day long barcrawl through Boston. While we did not try any of the Fernet Branca on tap (at $3 a shot, it is the cheapest in town), we were roped into a shot of Rittenhouse 100 Rye with some of the USBGNY members. Besides the Fernet tap, the Citizen is rather notable for its impressive list of whiskeys from across the country and around the world. Most of them, unlike the Rittenhouse and a few others, should be savored instead; the Citizen has an ice ball maker just for this purpose.

who? what?

The euphemisms are getting a bit stale, suffice to say: four people in Boston -- two of whom are much more prolific writers than the other two (including the originator of this blog, who has no excuse apart from laziness) -- who drink and tell.

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The 2017 collection of 855 drink recipes, bartender tributes, and essays on hospitality from Frederic Yarm, one of the authors of the Cocktail Virgin Slut blog. Available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

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